The Ping Of My Favorite Piano
by Arii-hime
Summary: Ever since Mikan's mother died, she's wanted to hear that special song again. Then a guy moves in next door, and she never imagined he'd play it for her. "So you play piano." For foxtrotelly's birthday. Really pointless fic.


For foxtrotelly's b-day. :) My first big sis on FFN. I didn't know what kind of fic to write for her and she said that any was okay, so I decided to write this one! Thankies foxtrotelly! Happy birthday! :3 Hope you have an awesome b-day for someone as awesome as you! Love, your lil sis Riri :)

**Disclaimer:** Why is it that I always forget my disclaimers? I always do. For some weird reason. I just do. But I didn't this time, so I will say that I don't own Gakuen Alice. If only I did. But it belongs to Higuchi Tachibana...for now *evil grin* I also don't own My Immortal or Breakaway.

* * *

_The Ping Of My Favorite Piano_

_---Ariisha-chan---_

Ping.

Ping.

Ping.

Mikan tapped the keys aimlessly on the piano, trying to hit the right tune, that special tune with that special sound. All that came out was a dead bleat.

Turning away from the keys, she stared out the window into the bright midmorning sun. The same sight she had seen for sixteen years. She had seen the same sight since she was a baby. It hadn't changed before her mother died. It still hadn't changed now.

She absentmindedly ran a hand, nails painted coal black, over the smooth jet-black surface of the piano. Her mother had loved piano. She played every day, the same melody that she knew Mikan loved. She grew up with that song. She hummed it whenever she could, danced to it. But she had never learned it. Her mother had left the music sheets there, but she didn't know how to play piano.

No one could teach her.

Except her mother.

Sighing, she slapped a hand on the bench and stood restlessly. The boring city of Aomori was just as boring as ever. She'd lived here for as long as she could remember. And she hated it. Her dream was to escape, rent an apartment, and make a living off of playing the piano. Someday she would live out that dream. And she'd be happy. She'd---

The sound of a rumbling truck interrupted her thoughts. She ran to the window and stared out. What looked like a moving truck was parked in front of the house next door...the one no one had lived in for years...and people were carrying furniture into it.

Someone was moving in next door?

No one had lived in that house since her mother died. It was as empty as a box. And all of a sudden, people decided to move into it? Mikan pushed herself away from the window and slipped her black platform sandals on, going to investigate.

Discreetly she slipped out the front door and sat on the porch swing, staring at the sight. The people moving in appeared to be...they all had black hair. A man, a woman, a little girl, and...

A teenage boy...about her age...who looked incredibly bored.

Mikan was captured by his looks instantly. She had never seen anybody who looked like him before. Not anywhere. Not even on TV. His hair was a deep raven color, and his eyes were a strange color, too: red. In fact, all of their eyes were red. Then, as if drawn by a magnet, he turned his head and looked right at her.

Her face flushed red and she quickly looked down at her coal-black toenails. She tried to hide her embarrassment by thinking about how the polish on her hands and feet completely contrasted her outfit, which was a pink tank top and blue denim skirt. But it was too late. The woman nudged the boy, said something. The boy made what looked like a complaint, then he turned around, sulking, and walked towards her.

Eeek! He was coming! Mikan wanted to turn around and run back into the house, slamming the door behind her, and let her dad answer it. But she stayed there, staring at her feet, as the raven-haired guy walked up the porch steps and came to a stop in front of her, and she was staring at his Converses.

Then he spoke. "So you're the girl next door."

"Um, yeah." Mikan didn't look up.

"You can look up, you know." She slowly lifted her head, and made an attempt at conversation.

"I'm...Mikan. Mikan Sakura." Mikan stuck her hand out, and he slowly reached his own out and shook it.

"Where's your mother?"

The question was like a thorn in her heart.

She ducked her head down again as tears formed in her eyes. She brushed them away then looked up again. "She's not here."

He was too polite to ask what that meant.

Soon he said, "Um, well, I should be getting back now, so I'll see you later." He turned away from her.

"Wait." He stopped. "I never caught your name."

He turned around halfway, looking over his shoulder.

"Natsume Hyuuga."

* * *

...A week later...

* * *

Mikan heard a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" she yelled, jumping up and nearly slipping in her socks.

As the days passed she got to know Natsume (by force) better. She found out that his mother's name was Kaoru and his dad's name was Ka-chan. Or, that's what they all called him. And his little sister's name was Aoi, who was just the sweetest person on Earth. He liked to play sports (He really had a good body for it, she thought) and read manga and basically stay relaxed. But...sadly he was also a total perv. By Wednesday he was already calling her "Polka dots".

She raced to the door and swung it open, and there stood the said family.

"Hello, Mikan!" Kaoru smiled warmly at her. Mikan liked Kaoru because she was carefree, just like her mother. She was sure she'd like her if she was still alive.

If.

"Hi, Mrs. Hyuuga," Mikan said, smiling. "Izumi is right here."

"Oh, thank you." Kaoru beamed. "You and Natsume can play together, how about that?"

Both people cringed. "Play"? Umm...no. They were sixteen, for the love of Pete.

Aoi plopped down in front of the television and began watching Sesame Street, the puppets capturing her attention. After all, she was only seven.

"Umm..." Mikan turned around only to find that Natsume had vanished.

"Natsume?" She turned around and walked into the kitchen. "Natsume?" She ran up the stairs when she heard something that sounded like music coming from the attic, which wasn't really an attic, more like another bedroom, and raced up the stairs, nearly doing a double take when she saw what the source was.

Yes, she found Natsume. Sitting at her mother's piano. Playing what she recognized as _My Immortal_.

Natsume, play piano?

She wasn't as angry as she thought she would be. Normally she would be in a flying rage if anyone even touched her mother's piano, because it was the only reminder she had of her. But she wasn't. In fact, she almost felt at ease, maybe even a bit happy. She had always thought of Natsume as just a guy, someone who just was like any other guy. To see this side of him was almost amazing. He looked perfectly calm and serene.

She accidently bumped into the door on the way in, and it made a creaking sound, startling Natsume and causing him to stop playing and look up at her.

"Oh. Sorry," she apologized. He was silent, and even looked, from Mikan's point of view, a bit embarrassed.

"So you play piano."

He didn't respond.

"You play well."

Silence.

"Really. It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I wish I could play like you do."

He glanced at her from out of the corner of his eye, then mumbled, "Thanks."

"So do you play on a regular basis or what?" Mikan pressed.

"Only a little."

"_My Immortal_ is one of my favorite songs. I really---" Suddenly Mikan's face lit up. "Could you play any song?"

"I think."

"Could you...might you play this one song for me?"

Natsume nodded apprehensively.

Mikan jumped up and zoomed out of the attic, rushing downstairs to her bedroom and throwing open her closet, burrowing past piles of clothes and other junk until she came to a little blue shoebox. She tossed the lid off and grabbed the old wrinkled music sheets that were inside, leaving the mess and running back to the attic.

She placed the sheets on the top of the piano. "This. Play this."

Natsume studied the sheets for a mere second before he put his hands back on the keys and began to play.

There it was again---that song. That song her mother always used to play. It brought back so many memories. Memories that couldn't even be described. Mikan closed her eyes and, as she pictured her mother smiling at her, began to sing the words:

_Grew up in a small town_

_And when the rain would fall down_

_I'd just stare out my window_

_Dreaming of what could be_

_And if I'd end up happy_

_I would pray_

_Trying hard to reach out_

_But when I'd try to speak out_

_Felt like no one could hear me_

_Wanted to belong here_

_But something felt so wrong here_

_So I pray_

_I could breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_

_I'll do what it takes 'til I touch the sky_

_And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget all the ones that I loved_

_I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Wanna feel the warm breeze_

_Sleep under a palm tree_

_Feel the rush of the ocean_

_Get onboard a fast train_

_Travel on a jet plane, far away_

_And breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_

_I'll do what it takes 'til I touch the sky_

_And I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_I won't forget all the ones that I loved_

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Buildings with a hundred floors_

_Swinging 'round revolving doors_

_Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but_

_Gotta keep moving on, moving on_

_Fly away, breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly_

_Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye_

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway_

_Out of the darkness and into the sun_

_But I won't forget the place I come from_

_I gotta take a risk, take a chance, make a change_

_And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway_

When the song was over there was total silence. Mikan struggled to stop the tears that were running out of her eyes like a faucet.

After awhile she finally managed to say, "Thanks."

"You're welcome." He paused. "You have a nice voice."

"Thanks," Mikan managed to choke out again. "You played the song perfectly."

"Hn." He looked away.

Then he asked, "Where exactly is your mother, anyways?"

"She's..." Mikan paused. "Dead." There. She said it.

"Oh. How did she die?"

"In...in a car crash. She was hit...head on...by a drunk driver." Mikan began hiccupping. "B-before she died. She used to. Always play this song. For me. When I was really little. Because she knew it was one of my favorites. But since she died. Nobody could play it. Like she did. And I don't know how to play piano." She flicked the remaining tears off her cheeks. "You played it just like her. It sounded exactly like her. I don't know if I could have heard it better."

"Hn." He suddenly began to feel icky, so to lighten the mood he shoved her off the bench.

"Hey!" Mikan toppled on to the floor. "What was that for---HEY!"

He tackled her and smothered her with a pillow. "Don't. Say. Anything."

"Ow! Ow ow ow! Get off me! NATSUME!" He slid slowly off of her, and she burst out laughing. She couldn't help it.

"Oi, Polka. What's so funny?"

"Put a sock in it." She smiled. "Really, though. You don't know how much I appreciate it. So..." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Sincerely."

He raised an eyebrow. "I think if it had that much effect on you I should get a kiss on the lips."

"Pervert."

But Mikan obliged.

* * *

_I WENT. LIKE. SO OFF TOPIC. SO YEAH._

_This is a fail beyond belief. So shoot me already._

_Foxtrotelly, if you are reading this, I give you full permission to cyber smack me and scold me about how suckish it is. And if it makes you happier I am in the process of writing a better fic for you right now, because this one was rushed. It was your b-day and I wanted to give you something on the exact date, but since I am so busy and lazy I had to hurry. Boo. :( So now I will bask in my failing glory.  
_

_But please review anyway, and please inform me on how much you hated it. I will openly listen. :)_

_Thanks for reading._

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG SIS! :D :D :D *blows confetti and plays happy music*_

_~Ariisha-chan_


End file.
